


Your Journey's End

by Miss M (missm)



Category: Chronicles of Narnia - C. S. Lewis
Genre: Backstory, Calormen, Gen, Golden Age (Narnia), Non-Graphic Violence, Tashbaan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-04-30
Updated: 2012-04-30
Packaged: 2017-11-04 14:36:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,050
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/394950
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/missm/pseuds/Miss%20M
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It takes the blood of many to build a mighty city.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Your Journey's End

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Ilysia_039 in the 2010 round of the Narnia Exchange on Livejournal. Her prompts were as follows: Tashbaan, the rise of the Empire, a coup within the royal family, "Is it not passing brave to be a king,/And ride in triumph through Persepolis?" -Christopher Marlowe.
> 
> Thanks to Redsnake05 for the beta!

Hear them, stranger, the sounds: the beating of drums, the shouts of merchants, the groans of slaves. See them, wanderer, the palaces gleaming in the brilliant sun, the rise of spires and towers, the endless rows of roofs. Have you ever laid eyes upon a city this magnificent?

A great city where people have dwelt for thousands of years takes on a life of its own, shaped by the lives and deaths of everyone who has ever drawn breath inside its walls. It has its own history, its own character, its own voice, made up of a million different voices that mingle and become one.

And yet it is but glimpses of individual fates that people will remember, that will make it into history through poetry and song. You, stranger, have doubtless listened to many a story of famous men and women, without giving a single thoughts to the surroundings that brought them forth. But in this you are wrong, for no man exists alone; if he thinks he does, he will meet his downfall in the shape of his complacent arrogance.

You have followed the roads that lead here and are now at your journey's end; you must therefore accept what I have to tell you. Listen, stranger, and you will understand.

~

When Kidrash, the First, set foot on the river bank a long time ago, the land lay barren and the water emptied itself fruitlessly into the desert. It is said that Tash himself, the inexorable, the irresistible, created him from the light of the Eastern Star, and that Zardeenah, Goddess of the Night, gave him the power to walk between worlds. For he was not born on the river bank, but came fully grown from a place beyond the stars; and he brought a wife with him, though her name has long been forgotten, lost in the shadows of men deemed more important by those who write the chronicles.

These two, the stories say, built a home for themselves by the river, living off what the land could give them. Their firstborn son, Anradin, whose heart was courageous and whose eyes saw wide, grew up with the desire of adventure in his heart: he travelled West and South and even across the Great Desert, and returned with captives and followers from the wild tribes in the lands beyond. And he became the very first Tisroc (which was simply the word for 'king' in his father's tongue), and founded Tashbaan on the river bank where he had first seen the light of day.

But still the people were few to begin with, and vulnerable to attacks from barbarians. One night, invaders came from the sea and besieged the settlement, killing many of Anradin's people and capturing even more. And Anradin went to the hill where an altar for Tash had been erected, and he fell to his knees and called, "O Tash, my father's maker, what must I do to earn your protection and your aid?"

And the answer came to him later that night in a dream, that the newly-founded city could only be protected by blood; and the very next morning he sacrificed his dearest slave, who had been his companion for years, upon the altar, with many tears. But his sorrow and anger inflamed him, and he led his men into battle and drove the attackers away; and Anradin lived on to become a mighty warlord who conquered much land for his people with the aid of Tash, for whom the people erected a great temple around the altar on which the sacrifice had taken place.

Ever since, the Tisroc has sacrificed a well-loved slave once a year to keep Tash's favour and protect his thriving city. And those who have tried to cheat the god of his gift, due to bonds of affection or simple stinginess, have met their fate in the shape of coups, or assassinations, or loss in war; they are weak and susceptible to corruption. But as long as the sacrifice is made and the blood scattered, the god rewards his followers and lets Tashbaan prosper -- and it is to this end that the king must sacrifice his feelings, and the commoner his life, be it on the altar or in battle.

~

Many a lifetime has passed since the beginning, and the world has changed; yet Tashbaan remains the centre of it all. Climb the stairs of the highest watchtower one morning as the sun rises. See the different colours of the endless plains: the green of the Empire's farmland, the blue of the Ocean, the yellow of the Desert, where many a barbarian and wild beast has met their fate, fleeing the Sorceress of the Cold North. See the world stretched out all around you and relish the power, accumulated during the thousands of years I have grown.

Stranger, you have long since heard the call of my voice, the relentless gravitation that drives everything and everyone of importance here, to the middle of the world. If I have a voice of my own, it is because every voice that makes up my life, my vibrancy, my power, belongs to me.

I am the slave digging sewers in the streets. I am the pleasure girl who warms her Tarkaan's sheets while longing for her native Galma. I am the young Prince Rabadash, pacing restlessly in his bed chamber, spoiled, unhappy, and petulant; I am the Great Vizier lying at the feet of the Tisroc (who shall not live forever; I have seen his fathers and forefathers perish, one by one) and secretly hoping for his master's demise. It takes the blood of many to build a mighty city -- not only the sacred one which wets my soil once a year, but that which pulsates through my streets in the shape of bodies. The barbarians fear me, for I am everything their homely dwellings are not; but the highborn love me, for my power is theirs and theirs is mine, and we recognise this in each other.

Stranger, I am the powerful head of the greatest country in the world, and I see you look at me in wonder -- but hesitate no longer; the gates are open, you are at your journey's end. Come inside me and let me swallow you.

**Author's Note:**

> The names Kidrash and Anradin are lifted from _The Horse and His Boy_ , where they belong to powerful Tarkaans.


End file.
